the chris

For many years, luck was not on the side of Christopher Gardner (Milwaukee, 1954). In the 1980s, after a series of unfortunate events, he found himself living on the streets and taking care of his young son. They slept at his office, in stations, in parks and in homeless shelters. One day, when he saw a man getting out of a bright red Ferrari, Gardner asked him two questions: “What do you do and how do you do it?” It turned out the man was a stockbroker and Gardner decided to seek his fortune in the financial world. He is now CEO and founder of Christopher Gardner International Holdings and his total assets are estimated at 165 million dollars. Sound familiar? Not surprising. The movie The Pursuit of Happiness, starring Will Smith, is the film version of Gardner’s life story.